Actor Kirk Torrance and the man he plays in The Dark Horse, Noble Keelan. Photo supplied.

Noble Keelan founded Gisborne's Eastern Knights Chess Club with former chess champion Genesis Potini in 2000. Their story is told in the critically acclaimed New Zealand film The Dark Horse starring Cliff Curtis as Genesis and Kirk Torrance as Noble.

Genesis died suddenly in 2011, and Noble Keelan continues to run the club.

He says Genesis had a gift when it came to teaching children how to play chess, and showed them how those strategies could also work in life. He says in turn, the kids started to do much better at school and also learned about the joy of winning.

Noble Keelan says the club continues to produce champions, and they have just crowned their first Gisborne open champ in four years. He speaks with Lynn Freeman.